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Katie Rose, a 2018 graduate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, won the crown as the 70th Miss Virginia on Saturday, July 1, in a pageant held at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia. She accepted the title and sash from Miss Virginia 2022 Victoria Chuah.
Rose, who competed as Miss Loudoun County, performed a ballet routine during the talent competition. Along with the title, Rose was awarded a $20,000 scholarship as well as a spot in the Miss America pageant later this year.
Rose graduated from Mason with a degree in government and international politics before attending the University of Richmond’s law school.
“[Mason] shaped me in many ways, and it is an incredible honor to call myself an alumna,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “I am forever thankful, proud, and humbled to call myself a George Mason Patriot.”
As a student, Rose joined Mason’s chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority and attended a Washington, D.C., intensive session hosted by the school’s study abroad unit. “She was a special student, very enthusiastic, dedicated, and very well organized,” said Schar School Director of External Programs Michal McElwain Malur, who accompanied the students during the spring break intensive. “She was very memorable, a serious student, a natural leader, and a role model.”
Over the course of the pageant competition season, Rose’s community service initiative has been raising awareness for domestic violence issues.
“I’ve already been able to go into schools as Miss Loudoun County and talk about my elementary-level school curriculum about building healthy relationships,” Rose said during the interview portion of the Miss Virginia competition. “And the reason I know that this works is because at the end of one of my presentations a kid actually came forward and told me that he had been abused.
“I know that I want to encourage and have a platform for every child to feel that they have a safe place to come forward if they choose to do so,” Rose said.
Additional reporting by Cooper Dehr. Reprinted with permission of the Roanoke Times.